Florence, Italy

I know.. it's only like 2 months late... but I'm finally getting around to writing about our trip to Florence. I probably would have put it off even longer if I wasn't so eager to get the pics off my desktop lol.

Florence is the most beautiful place we have seen yet in Italy. As soon as you walk out of the train station it's breath taking. We took the train from Pisa to Santa Maria Novella. There is a beautiful church right outside the station.

From the train station we proceeded to walk down the old streets and head to the Duomo and Baptistery. It was BEAUTIFUL! Right outside of the Duomo, we sat down at this lil candy shop and had canolis. mmmmmm.

From the Duomo we went to Piazza Santa Trinita and walked along the Arno river to Ponte Vecchio. Up until the 16th century, the bridge of Ponte Vecchio was lined with butchers, who wanted to toss meat in the river. It was then that Ferdinando I de'Medici ordered the butchers to be replaced with jewelers. Even still today the bridge is lined with jewelers. The view from the Ponte Veechio is breathtaking and is a must see in Florence.

From the Ponte Vecchio we headed to Uffizi, which means Offices, was originally built to house adminstrators, judiciary, and guilds. It now holds beautiful works of art. Right behind the Uffizi is the Piazza della Signoria, which was my favorite place in Florence. It holds many awesome statues... like the one below of Medusa being beheaded.. the Fountain of Neptune.. and the replica of David, which was cool since we didn't have enough time to see the real statue of David. You need a few days to see EVERYTHING in Florence and we only had a few hours, so we picked the things we wanted to see the most. I HAD to see the Fountain of Neptune.

We left the Piazza della Signoria and decided it was time to head back. It was def my most favorite place ever visited.

(A sidewalk drawing)

(Rosalie getting her portrait done.. it does and doesn't look like her. It looks like her at a toddlers age)

(View of the tuscany area on our way down.. ahh i love it here)

(Yes... these were REAL people)

One Month from the BIG DAY.

I can't believe in less than a month my lil baby will be 1. I can't believe how fast the past year has gone. It's been so fun watching her grow, change, and learn.. I miss that lil 7 lb 2 oz bean... but this 24+lb monster is entirely too much fun! :) I know it's a few days late, but here's Rosalie's 11 month update.

Rosalie Maggie

11 months old

WEIGHT: 24 lbs 6 oz. I know, she's huge lol

HEIGHT: 29 1/2 inches long

TEETH: 8 .. and she loves having them brushed!

DIAPER SIZE: 4

CLOTHING SIZE: 12-18, 18 months

WORDS: Dada, Mom, Hey Dad, Dad Did, and I'm pretty sure we've been hearing BaBa and PaPa. Her mouth doesn't stop from the time she gets out of bed until the time she goes to bed.

MOBILITY: She is extremely strong on her legs.. pretty much running every where. She is FAST. She doesn't crawl unless it's to get in a small place to retrieve something.

FAVORITE GAMES: Rosalie loves playing jumpin-jumpin and pattycake. She LOVES playing tug-of-war with Buddy and his rope.

SLEEPING: For the first time since she was about 4 months old, Rosalie is FINALLY sleeping through the night. We broke that bad cycle. I didn't want to jinx it until she did the pattern for over a week, but it's been well over a week so I think it's safe to say. She's been going to bed between 8-8:30.. sleeps until 5:30-6:30, eats, and goes back to bed until 7:30-8:00. She takes a nice long morning nap... usually 2 hours.. and an afternoon nap that is usually half an hour to an hour long.

EATING: Oh boy.. Rosalie loves to eat. She has 4 meals a day.. plus a morning bottle, an afternoon bottle, and a bedtime bottle. Her favorite foods are: green beans and rice, sweet potatoes, bananas, and pears. We have introduced her to mashed potatoes, which she loves and loves to feed herself.. and same with sweet potato casserole. She also had her first cupcake the other day and loved it. She still won't drink from a sippy cup, but loves to drink from a big girl cup, so maybe we'll skip the whole sippy cup.

POTTY: Rosalie has been going to the same spot to go to the bathroom. She always has to be in the kitchen at the back door.. so we think with this consistency, that she's ready to start potty training. When she turns 1, the potty training is starting.

Rosalie is so bad, but she is learning what no means. The best part, it only works if it comes from mom's mouth :)

Week 17 Weigh In

No big numbers this week.. but at least i still lost. I've decided I'm going to start doing weigh ins every other week that way i'm not discouraged by these few ounces that I lose one week. I wasn't expecting to do well this week.. i stuck to my points, but didn't drink near as enough water as I should have!

Now let's look at the numbers shall we!

Week One: -2.9lbs

Week Two: -1.3lbs

Week Three: +.9 (Boo. lol)

Week Four: --

Week Five: --

Week Six: -1.3lbs

Week Seven: 0lbs

Week Eight: -3.3lbs

Week Nine: -2.0lbs

Week Ten: VACATION

Week Eleven: VACATION

Week Twelve: -4lbs

Week Thirteen: -0.4lbs

Week Fourteen: -1.3lbs

Week Fifteen: SICK

Week Sixteen: -3.5 lbs

Week Seventeen: -.2lbs

Total Weight Loss to Date: -61.2 lbs

Total Weight Loss in 16 Weeks: -18.13bs!

First Goal of -50 Pounds: REACHED

Pounds Until New Goal (-70lbs): 8.14 lbs

Rosalie's First Halloween

Halloween is approaching fast. It's hard to believe that last year on Halloween weekend, Dr Allen wanted me to be induced and I refused, wanting Rosalie to come when she was ready. Since she arrived a few days after Halloween, this will be her first celebration. Halloween time last year, I was 9 months pregnant, 61 pounds heavier than what I am now (GO ME!), and was in Venzone for the Pumpkin Festival. Absolutely risky. The doctor tells me that Rosalie is ready to come out, and I flee and head an hour and a half north to Festa Della Zucca to celebrate the pumpkin.

I wanted Rosalie's first Halloween to be special, because it has always been one of my favorite holidays. Four months out I started planning her costume. Then my mom threw a few of her usual magazines in a box she sent me. I found the CUTEST costume in Chasing Fireflies. Chasing Fireflies is ridiculously overpriced, so I began searching. I ended up finding the same costume at Spirit Halloween, it was MUCH cheaper, and I received it in a week!

A friend of mine has her own photography studio, so I decided to have her do some Halloween pictures. So far I've only seen a few, but they are GREAT. Anyone in Aviano needing pictures, be sure to head over to FRITSCHE PHOTOGRAPHY! She's great and her prices are reasonable!

Week 16 Weigh In

I totally skipped last weeks weigh in.. last week was just a bad week. With being sick, I didn't even want to get on the scale. This week was big numbers again! 3.5 lbs! That's rewarding! I've had a rough week so that was a big morale booster! Although I'm kinda upset, Rosalie took my Wii Fit Plus disc out and chewed on it and now it won't work :( so no workouts until I get a new disc.

Now let's look at the numbers shall we!

Week One: -2.9lbs

Week Two: -1.3lbs

Week Three: +.9 (Boo. lol)

Week Four: --

Week Five: --

Week Six: -1.3lbs

Week Seven: 0lbs

Week Eight: -3.3lbs

Week Nine: -2.0lbs

Week Ten: VACATION

Week Eleven: VACATION

Week Twelve: -4lbs

Week Thirteen: -0.4lbs

Week Fourteen: -1.3lbs

Week Fifteen: SICK

Week Sixteen: -3.5 lbs

Total Weight Loss to Date: -61 lbs

Total Weight Loss in 16 Weeks: -18.11lbs!

First Goal of -50 Pounds: REACHED

Pounds Until New Goal (-70lbs): 9 lbs

Hysterical

The other night Kevin and I were doing the Wii Fit. The one exercise is you ride a segway and pop balloons and chase after this gopher. Right after it begins, our dog Buddy will run onto the screen because we have him programmed into the Wii so we can weigh him, and he'll run beside you. Rosalie thought this was hysterical so we had to get it on video. You can tell when he disappears off the screen because she'll just sit there.. then you can tell when he comes back on the screen cause she'll start laughing like crazy!

Sugar High

This video is making it's debut on my blog before Facebook because Facebook is being stupid and isn't letting me upload.. it's saying it's going to take 210 hours to upload a 3 minute video! lol so it's on here for now... will eventually be on facebook. This is Rosalie on a sugar high... nah actually her new favorite thing is "Jumping Jumping" and she does it all the time.. in the tub, in her crib, against the coffee table, tv stand, just standing..

Make sure you click the lil button in the right hand corner of the video to make it fullscreen. It'll either be a lil square or 4 arrows